Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Schimmel’s demolition paves way for Hope Lodge

The old Schimmel’s Restaurant on North State Street in Jackson is being demolished to make way for the American Cancer Society Gertrude C. Ford Hope Lodge.(Photo: Greg Jenson/The Clarion-Ledger)Buy Photo

Crews from Yates Construction began demolishing an old Jackson landmark this week to make room for the state’s first Hope Lodge, a facility where out-of-town cancer patients, and their families can stay for free during treatment.

The American Cancer Society’s Gertrude C. Ford Hope Lodge is on pace to open in 2016 on the site occupied by the former Schimmel’s restaurant on North State Street across from the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

“The end of an era. Schimmel’s is being demolished. Sad to see it happen, but excited for the future,” said Sal & Mookies owner Jeff Good in a Facebook post Wednesday night.

Kate Rosson, Mississippi field communications specialist for the American Cancer Society, said fundraising is just over 70 percent to its $10.9 million goal.

“We continue the momentum with the capital campaign, and we hope to begin the process of breaking ground in 2016 and ensuring that Mississippians stay well and get well,” Rosson said.

The Hope Lodge community will help provide nearly 12,000 nights of free lodging each year to patients and their caregivers traveling to the Jackson metro area for treatment, Saving patients more than $1.5 million per year in hotel lodging costs.

Jackson's Hope Lodge will feature 32 guest rooms, each with a private bathroom and sleeping accommodations for two people. It also will include common areas, a chapel, a kitchen and 24-hour laundry service. It can hold up to 1,000 guests per year.

Thirty-one Hope Lodge locations are in operation nationwide, but there currently are none in Mississippi. The closest locations are in New Orleans, Birmingham, Memphis, Lexington and Nashville. The ACS says those five facilities hosted 525 Mississippians for a collective 7,897 nights in 2014.

For more information on Hope Lodge, or to make a donation, call 1-800-227-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.

Jacob Threadgill at 601-961-7192 or jthreadgil@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @JacoboLaSombra on Twitter.